A Calgary resident faced his own trial on Monday for allegedly creating a tunnel into his upstairs neighbor’s home. Ben Maize is facing charges of mischief and break and enter. The incident took place in the summer of 2025 when Maize and his neighbor Betty Golightly resided in the same condominium building in Coach Hill. Golightly testified that upon returning home on September 5, she found her apartment locked from the inside and noticed holes in the drywall near her fireplace that seemed to lead to a tunnel connecting to the unit below.
Prior to the incident, Golightly and Maize were engaged in a dispute, although specific details were not disclosed during the brief trial. Golightly recounted an instance on July 10 when she heard what she believed to be Maize banging on his ceiling. She expressed feeling unsettled as the banging seemed to follow her around her apartment. Another encounter occurred on August 2 at Golightly’s door, during which she recorded a conversation with Maize, but the content was not revealed in court.
Golightly stated that due to her concerns for safety, she had been staying intermittently with her sister and brother-in-law. Maize is alleged to have created the tunnel into Golightly’s apartment between August 5 and September 5. Upon discovering the breach, Golightly noticed disturbances in her apartment, including a disarrayed dresser, an open pantry door, a shifted table, and a displaced shower curtain.
During the trial, Maize represented himself, with a court-appointed lawyer cross-examining Golightly to avoid direct questioning by Maize. In his defense, Maize highlighted recent renovations in the condo building that involved scaffolding and workers who could have accessed both units. He argued that there was no concrete evidence linking him to the break-in or the damage in Golightly’s apartment.
The prosecutor, Petter Hurich, acknowledged the strained relationship between the two parties and deemed the situation of a passageway between their residences as highly unusual. Hurich suggested that the only plausible explanation was that the passage was created by someone with access to both units. The judge, Eric Tolppanen, will deliver his verdict in the following weeks.